Is this close to the line for something that should be prohibited legally? (these are not directly equivalent but) would you be allowed a bus poster that said ``women get paid less because they're lazy``, or ``make up your mind trannys``?

- it doesn't use the word "cure" or any language to really suggest being gay is inherently worse or a sickness or something
- it shows sexual attraction isn't fixed
- there's nothing wrong with refusing to conform with the identity that everyone else has conflated to who/what you like to fuck.

It doesn't even use the word 'reformed' which would make it sounds more like they've gone to someone for help (which is actually closer to the truth). To me it even sounds like they're coming out as trans.

obv. it isn't but i think you're in danger here of conflating a personal & theoretical approach to sexuality & desire, which allows for an awareness of complicated responses, varying processes, and revealing (in butler) ALREADY-EXISTING (no?) possibilities for desire.
w/ an imposed pseudo-medical process which does not actually allow the possibility of sexuality as FLUID, but rather malleable from the outside ... 'ex-gays' never become bisexual or Queer or w/e, they are taught to repress the homosexual desires which do arise (which they do have, that do arise from bodily functions & hormonal processes).
This intended 'shift' a) doesn't work & b) is v. dangerous when opposed by a position of authority, as the innumerable research on the 'ex-gay movement' shows.

Their grounds for IP infringement would be trade mark, copyright or passing off. I doubt trade mark law would apply, and it's probably sufficiently different to not be a copyright issue.

Passing off is a possibility, but that would require demonstrating (among other things) that a misrepresentation has occurred. And then you'd effectively be arguing that the public would believe that a gay rights charity were promoting anti-gay messages, which doesn't sound too convincing.

Reading that and knowing nothing about the cause, post-gay or ex-gay pretty much imply a really open and flexible view of sexuality. I suspect most people will therefore wrongly read the ads as pro-gay and a continuation of the Stonewall stuff. Which is good.

Personally I've never quite got the importance of the distinction anyway. The fundamental issue is that homosexuality isn't a problem and doesn't need to be cured. Whether it happens through birth or growing up doesn't change that.

but if it was possible to 'cure' it, should these sorts of adverts be allowed? If someone is a fundamentalist Christian who knows they are gay, they are highly unlikely to give up their beliefs, so perhaps allowing them to be 'treated' would be the only way to resolve the conflict?

that posits that the nurture/nature dichotomy is over-simplistic and misleading, and especially that the common signification of 'nature' as something real and unchanging, 'nurture' as something not-real, inauthentic, and easily overwritten is bollocks. that's obv not an actual answer to the question of what homosexuality 'is caused by', but it's worth noting that the binary terms we're usually forced to talk about it in (it's either 'nature' or a 'choice' and to be valid you have to be 'born this way') are bad and limiting

There is no universal definition of 'helpful' in this context. To the guys paying for these adverts, what they're doing *is* helpful in their eyes. You might disagree, I might disagree, but they don't.

"Because of my own lack of knowledge, I became dependent upon
people in the Clergy. When the Clergy condemns a homosexual
person to Hell and eternal damnation, we, the congregation, echo
'Amen'. I deeply regret my lack of knowledge concerning gay and
lesbian people. Had I allowed myself to investigate what I now see
as Bible bigotry and diabolical dehumanizing slander against our
fellow human beings, I would not be looking back with regret for
having relinquished my ability to think and reason with other
people...people I trust for truth and guidance in my life and in the
life of our gay son.

"God did not heal or cure Bobby as he, our family and Clergy believed
He should. It is obvious to us now why He did not. God has never
been encumbered by His child's genetically-determined sexual
orientation. God is pleased that Bobby has a kind and loving heart.
In God's eyes, kindness and love are what life is about. I did not
know that each time I echoed 'Amen' to the eternal damnation,
referring to Bobby as sick, perverted and a danger to our children
that his spirit was broken until he could no longer rise above the
injustice of it all. Bobby ended his life at age twenty.

"It was not God's will that Bobby jump over the side of a freeway
overpass into the path of an eighteen-wheel truck, killing him
instantly. Bobby's death was the direct result of his parent's
ignorance and fear of the word gay.

"An injustice has been done not only to Bobby but to his family as
well. God knows it isn't right that Bobby is not here with loved ones.
Correct education about homosexuality would have prevented this
tragedy. There are no words to express the pain and emptiness
remaining in the hearts of Bobby's family members, relatives, and
friends. We miss Bobby's kind and gentle ways, his fun-loving spirit,
his laughter. Bobby's hopes and dreams should not have been taken
from him, but they were. We can't have Bobby back; if we could we
would say to him, as I say to all gay and lesbian people around the
world, these benevolent words of Leo Buscaglia:

' Love yourself -- accept yourself -- forgive yourself --
and be good to yourself, because without you the rest
of us are without a source of many wonderful things.'

"There are children like Bobby sitting in our congregations.
Unknown to you, they will be listening to your 'Amens' as they
silently cry out to God in their hearts. Their cries will go unnoticed
for they cannot be heard above your 'Amens'. Your fear and
ignorance of the word gay will soon silence their cries. Before you
echo 'Amen' in your home or place of worship, think and
remember...a child is listening."

some twats moaning about the 'gay mafia' on dailymail comment sites / confused & desperate people having a much higher chance of coming across organisations that might lead them to mental health problems, suicide & self-harm.
...
i know which one i'd choose.